Fellow Spotlight: Wendy Wang
SURF-Sustainability Fellow, Summer 2025
This past summer, the Sustainability Initiative partnered with the Office of Undergraduate Research to offer several Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships related to Sustainability. These opportunities funded summer research that focused specifically on the Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the .
We asked Mellon College of Science sophomore Wendy Wang, one of our summer fellows, to answer a few questions about her experience.
Q: Share a brief description of your research and why it’s important.
A: Our research, “Spatio-Temporal Causal Inference for DER’s Impact on Grid Reliability,” studies the consequences of rooftop solar adoptions on power grid resilience. By developing novel causal inference methods and applying them to decades of data from Indianapolis, we found that for every unit increase in rooftop solar adoption, the expected number of power outages increased by 0.0041.
As we transition to renewable energy sources to address environmental issues, it’s essential to assess the physical strain they place on aging infrastructure. By uncovering the underlying causal relationships, our research provides the technical evidence needed to highlight the emerging reliability challenge. Without upgrading our grids, simply adding more solar panels can inadvertently sacrifice reliability.
Q: Why did you decide to apply for SURF-Sustainability? What did the fellowship allow you to accomplish?
A: I applied for SURF-Sustainability because I wanted a dedicated framework to focus deeply on the research project I was passionate about: understanding how renewable energy shapes grid reliability. The fellowship provided valuable structure and mentorship during the summer, which helped me push the work further and refine it into a more rigorous and impactful study. It also encouraged me to situate my technical research within the broader context of sustainability and the Global Goals. Most importantly, the fellowship connected me to a community of students and faculty who care about building a more sustainable future, which made the work feel part of something larger than a single research project.
Q: The SURF fellowship required your research to contribute to the Global Goals. Can you share a little about which goal(s) your work relates to, and how?
A: My work contributes to three interconnected Global Goals:
- Goal 13: Climate Action. As climate change gets more and more severe, countries start to transition toward low-carbon energy. Note that in the massive blackout in Spain in April 2025, 59% of power came from solar, which suggests that understanding the risks and dynamics introduced by high renewable penetration is essential. Our research provides a technical perspective that helps policymakers design smarter, more robust infrastructures to safely incorporate renewable energy and effectively combat climate change.
- Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. Our research lies in the fundamental tension between achieving "sustainable" energy and ensuring "reliable" energy. By identifying how renewable adoption can impact outages, our work highlights that we can’t achieve sustainability by sacrificing reliability.
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. It’s important to understand that the grid stability wasn't caused by solar panels themselves, but by infrastructures that weren’t prepared for the new dynamics they introduce. Then, with the new causal modeling approaches developed by our research, we contribute to the innovation of analytical tools that can guide the design of resilient energy infrastructures for a sustainable future.
Q: How will you use what you learned about the Global Goals and sustainability in your work moving forward?
A: This experience taught me to view technical research not just as a statistical or engineering exercise, but as part of a larger system with environmental, social, and policy impacts. As Kristian Ruby, secretary general of Eurelectric, noted regarding the risks of renewables, "We don’t have a choice... We cannot stop because it is looking a bit complex."
Moving forward, I plan to use my work to solve that complexity by developing technical solutions that help policymakers design smarter infrastructures. The Global Goals will continue to shape how I define impactful research, which ensures that my work not only advances methods and models but also contributes meaningfully to a more sustainable and resilient energy future.
Applications for the 2026 SURF-Sustainability Fellowships are now open. Visit the webpage to review requirements and apply. The deadline is February 18, 2026.